FPCB firm SI Flex to move HQ to Suwon 

South Korean flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) maker SI Flex is planning to move its headquarters to Suwon in June, the company said on Thursday.

The company is currently based in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province but it will move to Yeongtong county in Suwon city.

It sold its existing factory at Ansan. A company spokesperson said it will focus on production at its facilities in Vietnam.

The company will only conduct research and development at its new headquarters.

SI Flex has used the cash for selling its Ansan facilities to payback debts.

It is currently using spaces in facilities owned by mask company SY Industry at Ansan as its temporary headquarters.

SI Flex’s decision to sell its production facilities in South Korean and focus on Vietnam is likely due to its customer Samsung Mobile focusing on launching mid-tier smartphones.

The phones have lower component prices, and more Chinese companies are competing to enter Samsung’s supply chain.

SI Flex relies on Samsung Electronics and Samsung Electro-Mechanics for up to 80% of its sales.

Last year the company recorded 262.7 billion won in sales and 33.5 billion won in operating loss. Sales was a drop of 31.4% from 2020. The company was negatively affected by Samsung’s lowered smartphone sales in 2020.

SI Flex is planning to secure more funding for its Vietnam operation to improve its earnings, and later go public based on the improved performance, people familiar with the matter said.

But the company’s operating margin rate was only 0.9% in 2019. The outlook for this year also remained uncertain, the people said.

Besides SI Flex, other FPCB companies in South Korea include BHFlex, Youngpoong Electronics, Interflex and NewFlex.